Bag seal



A. A. NORIN May 9, 1961 BAG SEAL Filed June 24, 1958 INVENTOR. Qf$7p a.gm,

BY Q 3E MW Z 1 K k M United States Patent 2,983,539 BAG SEAL Allan. A;Norin, Chicago, Ill., assignmto Porter Safety Seal Company, Chicago,111., a corporation of Illinois Filed June 24, 1958, Ser. No. 744,137

6 Claims. (Cl. 292-308) The invention relates to bag seal impropementsand particularly ofjthat type provided with a cord arranged to encirclea gathered neck of a bag and to be securely locked inplace with adeformable lead seal body.

I'Bag seals of the type here under consideration have,

vided on the seal are arranged to encircle the bag, and then .the sealelement itself is used to pull the loops into a tight constriction aboutthe bag neck. At this point, a

deformable body associated with the seal is squeezed in an appropriatetool, which locks the bag and tie cord in bag-closed position. Ofcourse, after transport of the particular bag, the seal'mustbe removed;and thelonly convenient way to acomplish same is to cut the tie cord.

Experience has shown that in removing the seal from the bag, the bagisfrequently cut or gashed, thereby destroying the future usefulness ofthe bag per se; This, of course, is undesirable especially in view ofthe fact that thereis a large disparity between the cost of the bagandrthejrelatively inexpensive seal, r a

'It is, therefore," a primary object of this invention to provide animproved bag sealing arrangement.

It is another object of the invention to provide a bag seal arangementof the type here under consideration,

having a combination of deformable sealing elements and a relativenon-deformable bag engaging element formed and arranged to cooperate andprovide improved bag seal ing characteristics.

It is a specific object of the invention to provide the combinationindicated above, having structure to guide any cutting action and solocalize same as to eliminate any possibility of the bag being gashed orotherwise damaged.

It is a further specific object of the invention to provide with thecombination above, a tie cord arrangement designed to facilitate sealremoval.

Still another specific object of the invention is to provide anarrangement including a bag-engaging element which accommodates cuttingof the tie cords from either side without turning the bag more than 90and thereby reducing the time required to open the bags.

Yet a further object of the invention is to provide in an arrangement ofthe type described a flexible bagengaging element which, upon mountingof the bag, will produce a pinch effect on the bag and avoid sealslippage relative to the bag.

Still another object of the invention is to provide in the bag-engagingelement, elongated tie cord receiving slots which permit the applicationof the seal arrangement to bags of varying sizes.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent in thecourse of the following description, and

from an examination of the associated drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is aplan view of the seal arrangement here under consideration,

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the non-deformable element used in theseal combination, and particularly showing the front portion thereof,

Figure 2a is another perspective view of the non deformable element, andillustrating the rear portion thereof, a 1 t t Figure 3 is afragmentaryperspective view illustrating the seal arrangement in combination with abag, and

Figure 4 is a front elevational view of a slightly modi-i fiedembodiment of the non-deformable element incorpo-= rated in thearrangement.

Describing the arrangement in detail, and directing attention first toFigure 1, it will be understood that a deformable body is indicatedgenerally at 2 and may be composed of lead or other suitable material;The body 2 in its original form is generally planar, and is providedwith a plurality (preferably, four) holes or apertures 6, 6

extending therethrough. It will. be noted that the holes 6 are generallyparallel to each other and also parallel to the general plane of thedeformable body 2. A pliant L deformable element 2, and thereafter inseries through" tying cord indicated generally at 8 is threaded through,inseries, the outer holes 6 on the left and right of the the inner holes6 of said deformable element. With the pliant tie cord 8 threadedthrough the deformable .ele-r ment in this manner, it forms a pair ofgenerally parallel inner and outer loops 10 and 12. Those skilled inthe- 1 art will understand that the loops 10 and 12 encircle the neck ofthe bag, as hereinafter described more in detail.

Intermediate the loops 10 and 12 and deformable ele-.

ment 2, a relatively rigid non-deformable element indicated generally at14 is provided.

Turning to Figures 2 and 2a, it will be noted that. the

element 14 comprises a forward wall indicated generally at 16 and a rearwall indicated generally at 18. The rear wall 18 is composed of twooppositely extending wing portions 20, 20. Said wing portions 20 aregenerally planar and, each having provided therein anopen ended aperture22;;

"" The front wall 16 is also provided with oppositely extending wingportions 24, 24 said wing portions 24 extending outwardly further thanthe adjacent wing portions 20 of the rear wall 18. It will also be notedthat in the preferred form of the invention, the wing portions 24 areangularly related to each other and arranged to converge centrally ofthe non-deformable element 14. Each of the wing portions 24 is furtherprovided with a closed, elongated slot 26, 26, the purpose of all ofsaid slots being hereinafter described more in detail.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the front wall 16 and rearwall 18 are integrally formed so that the adjacent wing portions 20 and24 of the respective walls each form a rigid non-deformable guiding slot30. The guiding slots 30, of course, have their outer ends open and aredesirably arranged to receive and guide a cutting edge, such as a knife,without the knife inadvertently slipping from said slot. The advantageof this structure will hereinafter be explained in detail.

Turning now in Figure 3, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of theinvention here under consideration in sealing or locking arrangement andin combination with a bag 34, it will be noted that the bag 34 has beennecked down as at 36, whereat the tie cord loops 10 and 12 have beenarranged to encircle the necked-down bag portion 36 and the tie cord 8has been pulled tightly, whereby the loops 10 and '12 constrictivelysurround said bag neck. In this position, the relatively rigidnondeformable element 14, and particularly the wings 24, 24 thereof,firmly abut and engage the bag neck 36; and a central portion 40 of thedeformable element 2 is in Patented May 9, 1961 tight abutting relationwith an adjacent central portion of the rear wall 18, and 6 body -2 hasin effect .been deformed to tightly lock the arrangement in position.

Those familiar with the art will understand that once the'...-sealing,;arrangement..has :been pulled into position on. a bag neck-and beforevbody deformation, the'ztiejcord 8 is extremely tight throughout itsentire: operative length. When: the lbody :ZIis deformed, athe portion.ofnthe' tie cordiSivithinithe bodytendsto increase in length. This, ofcourse, puts more tensionon the loop. portionsiilfl. and 12.". It istherefore desirable that thewing portions 24 ofthegfront. Wall :26 be.resilientlydeflectable so that upon final deformation of the body 2,the wing portions 24. are .urged to' springingly en gagei the adjacentbag neck. It will:be readil'y apparent from; the. structure shown inFigur'e 3-.that' the/slots '30, 30 formed .in thenondefprmable:=elernent. 14.provide clear and open cutting slots toreceive any appropriate cuttingedge, such as a knife. 'It is alsoapparent that the wing portions .20 and 24 which define each slot 30efiiectively guide any cutting action to avoid contact between .the bagand the cutting instrument. The .abutting flat contact between thedeformable element and the flat rear portion of the rear wall 18prevents the. deformable element 2 from .ac cidentally closing the slots30 upon original deformation. It will also be apparent that theapertures 22 in the wing portions 20 and the slots 26 in the wingportions 24 are so aligned that a strand of each loop 10 and 12ispresented in each slot 30 for cutting (see Figure 1). It is,therefore, only necessary to place a cutting instrument in only one ofthe slots 30, whichever. may be convenient in a given bag installation.Of course, ..With the single cut, the entiresealing arrangement becomesdisassociated with the bag.

' Turning to Figure 4 which illustratesa slightly modified arrangementof the non-deformable element 14, it will be noted that front wingportions 24a are slightly spaced fromeach other at the center portion ofthe element. In addition, upper and lower forwardly projecting flangesor ledges'44 are also provided on the wing portions 24a. When anon-deformable element as here illustrated is utilized in combinationwith the deformable element and tie cord illustrated in Figure 1, itwill be readily apparent that the ledges 44 tend to tightly grip theadjacent bag neck and that the space 46 between claims.

What is claimed is: 1. As an article .of manufacture, a bag grippingelement adapted to be associated with a deformable locking body and abag encircling cord; said element including a rear wall having a planarsurface arranged to engage said body, saidtrear .wall forming oppositelyextending first wings, a front wall having oppositelyextending secondwingsin acute angular relation with said first wings and said secondswings defining a pair .of opposed generally .U-shaped cutting slotsexposing portions of said cord. r H2. Anarticle according to claim 1,having apertures in said first wings which are open ended slots andapertures in said second wings which are closed slots;

3. An article according to claim 1,-wher ein said second wings areprovided with adjacent ends located centrally of saidrear wall as seenin plan view.

a 4. An article according to claim 3, wherein said ad- References Citedin the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Scott Dec. 2, .1952

Canter et Oct. 6, .1953

